Fast Facts: Assassinations of Iraqi Leaders

There have been at least 20 assassinations of Iraqis holding key government, political or religious posts since the first democratically elected government was announced April 28:

— April 28: Lt. Col. Alaa Khalil Ibrahim, who worked in the visa section of the Interior Ministry, is shot in eastern Baghdad on his way to work.

— May 8: Zoba Yass, a senior official in the Transportation Ministry, is shot along with his driver in Baghdad as they drove to work.

— May 12: Brig. Gen. Iyad Imad Mahdi of the Defense Ministry and Col. Fadhil Mohammed Mobarak of the Interior Ministry are shot in Baghdad as they drove to work.

— May 14: Jassim Mohammed Ghani, director-general of the Foreign Ministry, is killed in a drive-by shooting outside his home in Baghdad.

— May 15: Sunni clerics Sheik Hassan al-Naimi and Sheik Talal Nayef are kidnapped from different mosques in Baghdad and their bodies recovered two days later.

— May 15: Col. Jassam Mohammed al-Lahibi, an Industry Ministry official, is shot and killed along with his driver in western Baghdad.

— May 15: Shiite cleric Qassim al-Gharawi and his nephew die in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad. Al-Gharawi was an aide to Iraqi spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

— May 16: Quraish Abdul Jabbar, a Sunni cleric, is shot and his body dumped behind a mosque in Baghdad.

— May 17: Mouwaffaq al-Husseini, a Shiite cleric, is killed in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad.

— May 17: Sgt. Alwan Jabir Risan, a Defense Ministry employee, is shot by two carloads of gunmen in Baghdad as he was driving to work.

— May 17: Alaa al-Deen Wazir al-Obeidi, a senior officer the prime minister's anti-corruption agency, is shot in Baghdad as he drove to work.

— May 17: Kanis Mohammed al-Janabi, a former Baath Party member, is abducted and killed along with his three sons, aged 17 to 25, in a village about 20 miles south of Baghdad.

— May 18: Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Khamas of the Interior Ministry is shot as he drove through southeastern Baghdad.

— May 18: Salah Niyazi, an official from the Youth and Sport Ministry, is killed in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad.

— May 18: Mohammed Tahir al-Allaq, a Shiite cleric, is shot while driving to Kut, a city 100 miles southeast of Baghdad.

— May 19: Ali Hamid Alwan al-Dulaimy, an Oil Ministry employee, is killed in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad.

— May 22: Ali Moussa, Trade Ministry auditing office chief, is killed along with his driver in a drive-by shooting while heading to work in Baghdad. Moussa was also a junior official during Saddam Hussein's regime.

—May 23: Maj. Gen. Wael al-Rubaei, a top official in the National Security Ministry, is killed along with his driver in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad as they were heading to work.